World Champion Faith Kipyegon will battle with ten women for the coveted female athlete of the Year for the 2023 World Athlete of the Year Award slated for December 11, 2023.
World Athletics released a list of 11 nominees for Women’s World Athlete of the Year, who were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics.
Faith achieved a rare feat in 2023 setting three world records over 1,500m, 5,000m and 1mile.
She smashed the 1,500m record, her specialty, during the Diamond League meeting in Florence Italy clocking 3 minutes 49.11 seconds in June before dismantling the 5,000m world record on June 9 in Paris Diamond League, France with a new time of 14 minutes 05.20 seconds.
Kipyegon carried her rich form to the world championship in Budapest Hungary becoming the first woman to win four gold medals at the world championship. She grabbed a rare brace after winning the 15000m and 5,000m titles.
She will contest for the global award against Berlin Marathon Champion and women’s marathon record holder Tigist Aseffa, World 100m champion Sha Carri Richardson,World 400m hurdles champion Femke Bol, World triple jump champion Julimar Rojas and Kenya born-Bahrain’s 3,000m steeple chase world champion Winfred Yavi among others.The fans can vote online via the World Athletics social media platforms with the voting set to close at midnight on 28 October.
The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the World Athletics social media platforms.
Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube this week; a ‘like’ on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube or a retweet on X will count as one vote.
The World Athletics Council’s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.
Voting for the World Athletes of the Year closes at midnight on Saturday 28 October. At the conclusion of the voting process, five women and five men finalists will be announced by World Athletics on 13-14 November.The winners will be revealed on World Athletics’ social media platforms on 11 December.
